99 Bottles
by Starrilight-Hotaru
Summary: The 1st one was for comfort. Numbers 2 through 8 were for my sanity. I didn't need it anymore. And bottles numbers 9 through 22 were for remembrance. Who wants to remember anyway? Not me, not anymore. KagInu
1. 99 Bottles

99 Bottles

The first one had been for comfort. That's the one I remember very clearly. When I think back to it, it was almost as if I was watching myself start the descent into insanity. I also remember what it was that I made. It was a Cosmopolitan. One of the first drinks I ever learned to mix. It was in a glass that I had gotten for a Christmas present the year before. Yeah, it had come in handy, best gift I ever got.

Numbers two through eight were for my sanity. I drank those to get rid of every ounce that was left of it. I thought it would be a harder task. But in the end it only took seven bottles of sake to do away with it. Apparently I had lost most of it before I started this task. It was a lovely little thought that made me continue to drink.

When I started on my ninth drink the world spun around twice. I remember this because I saw my China cabinet go around me in a hazy circle that many times. It really didn't bother me that much. But bottles numbers nine through twenty-two were for remembrance. So when I woke up I wouldn't remember anything. I don't even think that I wanted to remember my name. And at the rate I was going, I wouldn't.

After the twenty-third bottle, a Smirnoff I think, I fainted. I don't really know or care how long I was out. I didn't dream, thank some unknown god. I really don't think that I could have survived if I had dreamed. It would have brought me right back into the reality I was so desperately trying to escape. And then the first twenty-two bottles would have been in vain. And that would have meant that I would have to start all over.

It was somewhere in-between my twenty-fourth and thirtieth bottle that I realized that reality is an illusion created by lack of alcohol. This world which I was slowly sinking into was a lot better than reality. My systems lied to me and my brain swam away from all my problems, which were every where but up. I slowly fell in love with this counterfeit world and I couldn't fall back out.

Between the thirty-first and thirty-ninth bottle I puked twice. My insides weren't used these foreign liquids that I was continuously forcing upon them. But that didn't stop me. After my intestines were dumped into my toilet and some on the floor, I went back and started again. My fortieth bottle I know for a fact was a Bud light. I know this because I wondered into my kitchen after I threw up, you know, to gather myself together, only to find a twelve pack of Bud light staring at me.

Forty to fifty-two, it shouldn't take a rocket scientist to know that was the twelve pack. Funny thing is I can't even remember how it tasted. I remember thinking about taking a drive around number forty-five. The only thing that stopped me from wrapping my car around a tree was the silly thought that one shouldn't drink and drive because one might spill one's beer. And that in itself was quite pitiful.

The hilarious thing about bottle fifty-three was that I actually started believing that I shouldn't listen to myself. I mean I was drunk after all, right? See, Miller light would do that to you. I made a decision to go for that drive. But somewhere on my way to my car I passed out. I actually remember what time I woke up that time. It was 4:45 in the morning. And what was it that woke me up? The biggest hangover of the century, that's what. But the best cure for a hangover in more alcohol. I wonder, what idiot said that first?

Shots, yeah that was what I started at five o'clock in the morning. I recall taking out fourteen glasses and lining them up on my bedroom floor. Then I filled each little glass to the brim. Within ten seconds all of the little glasses had become empty. The buzz was so loud now that I couldn't feel the hangover. Weird way to put it but it was the only way I could explain that feeling. So after my sixty-seventh glass I tossed up my insides again. I really started to hate my body for rejecting the little help I could give it.

Sixty-eight to seventy-two, my house had swallowed up almost all of my alcohol. Okay, I guess I really can't blame my house but most of my stashes were raided. Even my mini bar was empty. It stared at me mockingly as if saying, 'Ha-ha-ha, let's see you escape your life now…' I kicked it for saying that and I think I sprung my ankle right then. So I sat on my bed craving for something that probably didn't exist in my house. I couldn't walk at all because of my ankle. But then again that zigzagging I had been doing didn't count as shit anyway.

Lucky me, as I wondered/crawled from the bathroom after a fourth encounter with my guts, I found a stash under my bed that I had completely forgotten about. It is very easy to forget such things when one has chugged more beer/alcohol in less than twenty-four hours than many people see in an average year. Seventy-three up to eighty- two had been strictly Bloody Maries and Margaritas. Now at this point, you're probably wondering how in the hell I knew what number I was on. There's a small chalk board in my room, every single drink I took I forced myself up to it and marked it off.

When I found eighty-three to ninety-three under the kitchen sink my ankle had finally began to swell, gruesome sight too. I also realized that I was probably going to end up dead. At first I thought this to be quite amusing but in the end I really didn't give a damn, I just needed the buzz to continue. So down my throat the not so innocent liquor went. And after the last drip reached my lips, I passed out again the glass falling from my hand.

I woke up to find that I had cut my hand on the glass that had fallen and shattered. But once again, I didn't care at all. I just needed to get somewhere to empty my bowels again. The kitchen trashcan did just fine this time. I dragged myself into my room again to find another forgotten stash in my closet. Ninety-four and ninety-five, by now my hands were shaking uncontrollably. This had started in the late forties, early fifties but it was really bad now.

After that, the last four went by fast. Ninety-six was the last of a bottle of gin which I had mistaken for water all throughout this escapade. Hell no H2O was my new saying for the evening. Ninety-seven was coke-and-rum. I was seriously on a low supply of booze to result to such a drink but who cares, alcohol is alcohol and caffeine is caffeine. Ninety-eight was a small bottle of stuff I was given for some holiday. Now that I think about it, it probably was moonshine from some southern state in America. Finally, ninety-nine was a Sam Adams; I only remember that because I was so delusional that I started laughing at it for no reason. I think it was because the guy on the bottle started to tell me jokes or something of the sort. I passed out again after this last drink and fell into a coma.

That's how I ended up here. Sitting in this stupid hospital, being stared at by people I swear I have never seen in my life, as they walked in and out of the room. And out of all the nameless faces, I saw one that brought me some type of comfort. It was a soft, sad face with golden eyes. So I turned to it and asked the first question, "Do I know you?" He nodded slightly and then looked away from me. I thought I saw tears as he turned around and a curtain of silver hair followed him. "I'm sorry but what is your name?"

"Inu Yasha…"

"That's a funny name. Do you know my name?" I asked. He nodded again. "What is it then?"

"Kagome…"

Okay so how was it… I was in the mood to write about someone being drunk. To tell you the truth, I was really trying to figure out if this was going to be an Inu Yasha fanfic.

I was also thinking about making it a Cowboy Bebop with Faye as the narrator, post series, after Spike dies. But I decided against it at the last moment, might regret it later. I decided against shounen-ai because to me, it just sounded more like girl getting drunk, I don't know why though. I almost made it a Full Metal Alchemist, Edward getting drunk, post series, trying to forget about Al and blah. But I knocked that idea out too.

So this is more Kagome getting drunk because Inu Yasha told her he couldn't be with her post series. And Inu Yasha comes back to find Kagome in a coma and blah because he was wrong. I really don't care; this will probably be a one-shot. I only wrote it because my birthday is coming up and I'm getting slightly depressed. See my birthday means school and school means a load of shit.

Anyway if I get enough reviews I might drag this out and make it longer. You know add a deep plot and some drama a few chapters and bam! I've got myself a real story! But this will not be touched again until after August 2nd because it just won't. I don't have a real reason.

Well, okay maybe I do, I have to finish the first chapter to Blood Red Moon so I can post it up on my b-day. And then I'm working on this story called A Goddess's Forbidden Blood, and then Not my Fault needs to be tweaked a bit and posted and not to mention A.T.T.I.C. I've just got a lot of stories I want updated on my b-day, so this won't be touched until the day after. Anyway I'm out, please Read and Review… Star…


	2. Take 1 Down

Take 1 Down

It had been harder this time to force her to go. She knew I didn't plan to come to retrieve her just as I knew of her knowledge of that fact. I had obligations to my present just as she had to hers. It really was that simple at the time. But nothing that easy or good lasts forever.

I really thought she would take rejection a lot better than she did, even if the smell of tears was apparent long after she left. I had somewhere in my mind forced myself to believe that her emotions wouldn't get in the way. That she was much stronger than the average human, even to the point where she was inhuman. She is strong and human but while trying to separate the two I made a fatal mistake.

When I look back on it now I wonder, were did it go wrong? We all seemed happy together, well as happy as a group of teenagers and a runt could be while their lives were constantly in danger. We had our share of laughs along with the occasional tears but we still moved on. That's the way life works anyway.

But somewhere along the line I realized that I wasn't happy with her in danger. And it bothered me when she had to force a smile and continue on. She wasn't from my vile world so she didn't deserve to live like I did. She deserved so much more and I didn't deserve her.

I should have gone earlier to check on her. It had been my intention at the time to make sure she was living in her present, my future and not in her past, my present. But I allowed the simple things to get in the way. She could be busy. Her village was too loud. People would look at me funny while I tried to sniff her out. Just the _normal_ things that stop people from doing what they planned to do.

I really didn't think that when I got there she would be laying sprawled out on the floor. I couldn't have dreamed of her reeking of alcohol. I didn't imagine I wouldn't be able to wake her no matter what I did. But even if I didn't envision those things I don't know what I thought I would find.

She was mine and I rejected her. I pushed her away for reasons I still don't understand. For reasons that now fail to come to my aid and explain how this went so wrong. I was no longer trapped in my past but she was trapped in hers, and she didn't deserve a life like that. Not if she did it for me.

Because even with the other things left behind, she always came back for me. I couldn't understand it. Why did she continue to come back for me? What could she see that I couldn't pick out for the life of me? She refused to leave my side during times were we both could've been killed. Yet she stood there with no fear only determination shining through her eyes.

She was never one to cry out loud to me. If it really had to be said she'd probably yell it before crying. It's another example of her impossible strength. That's just the way she is and I broke her. I broke her into a million pieces of memories that she can't assemble. And now I'm the one left hurting. I'm the one holding the weight of two worlds on unstable shoulders.

There were things that could have, no should have been done differently. There are words that should have long ago escaped my lips and never did. But when I stare into those naïve eyes, those eyes that don't remember a thing about me or my world, I'm pulled away from them again. And those words are left untouched and silently waiting.

I haven't been back since I found her, back to my home, to my world. I just spend my days waiting for her to remember. But she doesn't anymore; all she does is smile at me and constantly ask me my name. It really does kill me on the inside to see her like that, to see her suffering and yet feeling no pain at all. Out of all of my enemies, I just can't defeat the one I had myself created, this pain that is slowly engulfing me.

Everyday now I tell her the story. _Our_ story, of how _we_ overcame obstacles in a land she believes is only a fairy tale. I tell her of _our_ past and what could have been _our_ future. I tell her these things so I can believe somewhere in my heart that she'll remember. That she'll remember me but it does no good.

The seasons have changed now and the days have passed into weeks, months and then years. She barely leaves the room in the hospital and neither do I. But even I didn't notice at first how her smile began to sink into her skin. How her youthful glow seemed to pass away into a more mature one. How her laughter changed from young and springy to aged and feeble.

One day I looked at her and couldn't see what I once saw. She had grown past the peek of her life and into elder hood. And it seemed that over half of this time of her growth was spent in this damned room with its paper thick walls and puke colored wallpaper. It had been so many years and I was the same but she was not. The walks that she had begun in the afternoons around the hospital about 5 years into her living there had now slowed into a simple crawl. She can no longer sit up to listen to my stories. But at least she finally remembers my name. Out of all the people that come to see her she only remembers my name and that's good enough for me.

She is very old now. Her mother has long since passed to the otherworld. Her younger brother is now enjoying the luxury of great grand children. He can't visit as often as he used to, old age is wicked to bones. So a whole new generation pops its head in every once and a while to greet her but she never is able to match the faces to a name. So I patiently do it for her.

She called out to me one night when the moon shined bright along with the stars. But it wasn't even a call, more like a whisper. There were machines now for everything. There was one to help her breath, one to monitor her heart, one to feed her and such. The whistles and soft clatters produced by the machines almost covered her voice but I still heard her. I always hear and I will always hear her.

"Inu Yasha…" She called through the thick night air.

"What is it Kagome?"

"I remember now Inu Yasha. It was so long ago but I remember. The story of the girl who overcame time and the boy who time overcame, that was us."

"That's right Kagome." I whispered as she smiled up at me.

"In the heart of the Sengoku Jidai there was the Shikon no Tama. The shards spread across the land and we collected them together. Those were such fun times and they made for nice memories." She whispered back.

"I know Kagome."

"It was such a lovely place Inu Yasha." She muttered while closing her eyes. "Yes such a lovely place."

"It was absolutely beautiful, just like you."

She let out a soft airy chuckle. "You have to take me back there Inu Yasha, just for a little while. I miss it a lot."

For the first time I smelt it on her, it was faint but slowly becoming stronger, death. So I did as she asked. I hoisted her onto my back and scaled rooftops until I reached the old well house at the back of the shrine. It hadn't changed at all even with the growth of new industry thriving around it.

"We must hurry, there isn't much more time left." She whispered again. I nodded slowly and jumped down the well.

I jumped into the mystic well, the portal between times and when I arrived I sat her gently on the ground. By now her breathing had become impaired and her eyes weren't focusing that well. Maybe time travel wasn't the best thing for sickly old women at times it even put a slight strain on me. But when she spoke she didn't complain it would probably be against her very being.

"It's just like I remember…" She said with a sigh and closed her eyes. "So open, so free, so wonderful…"

I didn't mean to let it slip but it did. A tiny bead of water slid slowly down my cheek and fell silently to the ground. It was soon followed by more that continued to make the journey to the ground below. I had done this to her. I had driven her so far over the edge that it had take more than half a century for her to climb back up. I had hurt her while trying to protect her. And it took everything I had to stop myself from falling to the ground in tears.

"I'm so sorry Kagome that I couldn't get you here sooner…"

"I forgive you Inu Yasha… But I wonder now, what did you ever do with the jewel?"

"What?" I asked softly, quite startled by the question.

"A wish for anything in the world, but in the end it's all just a dream…"

"A dream?"

Kagome whispered as she slipped away into the other world. "Yes, such a lovely dream… I wonder how it will finally end…"

"Kagome. Kagome?" That's when I realized she was really gone. And the little bead like tears ran freely from my eyes. I buried her under the sacred tree and with remorse and even more forgotten tears then I returned to her time.

_But I wonder now, what did you ever do with the jewel?_

The end… Nah I'm just joshing yah. There's at least one more chapter and at most 3 for this story. And here's the 'OMG you killed Kagome… DIE YOU MURDERING BASTARD!' And my response to you is, "Um… YES DIE YOU MURDERING BASTARD HOW DARE YOU KILL KAGOME OFF! Oops that would be me… Huh ha, snicker snicker laugh laugh LOL?"

I'm sorry but she had to go for a higher purpose and that purpose will be explained in chapter 3 (Hint: _If I could turn back time…_), so hold your torch and pitchfork I'm working it. But after chapter 3, you won't kill me. That's a promise. And besides this had to be a bit on the angsty side. (Why? I don't know…) I mean Kagome drunk away her memories to a point that she didn't remember until right before she died.

You want to know the funny thing about it. (Someone in the back yells, 'WHAT'S SO FUNNY ABOUT KILLING KAGOME!' I didn't kill Kagome, she died of old age.) I actually went a little teary eyed while writing the end of this and it took me emailing this to be reviewed by Blueangel316 to realize that I had killed off Kagome. It kind of just slapped me in the face. You know kind of like I'm reading over it and thinking, 'Yeah hopefully I can post this before the weekend, then I can finally finish my revision of Attic and OMG Kagome DIED! Who would write such a thing! Who would do something so cruel!' And then I realized that it was me and I had to slap myself upside the head. So, I email BA326 again saying stuff like, 'Don't point the cybernetic gun at me (Found out later it was a bazooka). Don't look at me like that through the computer screen. Stop sending Inu Yasha after me. I just realized it and blah…'

Now of course, I'm sitting here apologizing to the readers of this fic who are disowning me and the one who had a heart attack (I'm not liable for your health problems don't sue me…) for being an ass. But I say to you right now I'm not changing a damn thing about the plot so you'll just have to wait to see how I make up for it and I will. Anyway enough about my blabbering Read, Review, Flame (But you'll have to take it back after chapter 3 is posted) knock yourself out but I say to you, the more reviews I get on the story, the more likely it becomes that I'll force myself up at ungodly hours and work on it. Love you all (Stop trying to shoot me it isn't Star Season, it's duck season! Because I just asked Bugz Bunny! Blows a raspberry) Bye BYE!\

P.S. I'm going to post chapter 3 ASAP because I really don't want people trying to kill me for this. Hopefully I won't have homework this weekend and I can work on it during Naruto.


	3. Pass It Around

Pass it Around

'I wish more than anything to wake from this dream, this dream that boarders the line of a nightmare. I wish to mend the hearts broken in this useless conflict, those hearts that always seemed to cry for something more. I wish to live again in my world and the time in which I was bred. But most of all I wish that I had the girl who continued to cross time in its stead.' Inu Yasha

'_But I wonder now, what did you ever do with the jewel?' _

His eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness of the room. It was a small shrine that had been abandoned for several centuries, and in it laid the most powerful relic of a forgotten time, the Shikon no Tama.

He couldn't exactly remember when he had placed it there, but he knew it was around the time that Miroku asked Sango to marry him. He had left it in their care so many centuries ago to go and check on Kagome. He had never returned.

The couple had stood at the edge of Kaede's village and hoped for his safe return. The runt had actually hugged him, with no strings attached, and wished him good luck on his journey. The demonic cat nuzzled his foot in a playful manner before he leapt into the portal that attached the times. That was the last time he had seen them. He missed them dearly.

The old shrine was wet inside, dark, smelly, time having taken its toll on it. Hidden as well as the slayers' village, the temple had remained undiscovered for many years. He was probably to first to walk into it in a long time. His fingers traced the walls that were filled with paintings that spoke softly of the secrets of a lost time.

That's when it called out to him. It was a soft, sweet sound that could only be described as a peek into an angelic symphony. The jewel called out to him, pulling him into the heart of the shrine. It whispered sweet nothings in his silver ears wondering who had wandered into its range after so many years of a peaceful slumber.

_A wish for anything in the world, but in the end it's all just a dream… _

The jewel cried out joyfully at him asking to be held, dreaming of being wished upon, to be purified and escape such a dull and destructive existence. "Shh… I will… I will…" he sighed out softly.

His fingers encircled the pink orb, and it pulsed gently in his hands. His mind suddenly became a blank haven as he was pulled into the jewel. It was calming and pure. A small piece of him desired to stay there for a little piece of eternity, but he had a mission.

As he noticed the mist, a young woman slowly appeared. She wore ancient body armor, and the mark of the saved was branded upon her brow. Her eyes were tired yet patient as she walked before him.

This woman was Midoriko, marked with ancient scars and bearing the last wound she received in battle, a hole in the place where her heart should have been. She stood before him in all her regal glory. "What is thy desire, second son of the Inu no Taisho?"

_Yes, such a lovely dream… _

"These things that I once desired… From a human body and then to that of a demon's, they mean nothing to me anymore…" Inu Yasha spoke, his low voice bouncing off of unseen walls, echoing into the distance.

"One doesn't often change their deepest desires, their darkest and sometimes even purest thoughts are held from view. This little piece of soul is why people do unreasonable and sometimes completely unexpected things…" Midoriko said as a slight wind blew and tossed her hair to the side.

"I understand this, but I need to know for myself… I need to know my deepest desire. It has changed so that I no longer understand it."

"You wish to achieve your deepest desire even though you are unsure of what it is?" Midoriko asked.

"Yes."

"If it is pure I will finally be able to rest and you will be able to continue life… If it is impure I will continue my existence in this jewel and your life will be damned for an eternity as many have been before you. So is the cost of such great power, the power to wish for anything in the world. Do you still wish for this?"

"The Shikon no Tama touched by so many… I was told once to look back at the past, that no one whose life was touched by the jewel ended favorably. Only destruction and panic lay in the path it left behind, a path that was very easy to follow."

"Then what is your answer?"

"Yes, I wish for my deepest desire to be filled, the one that owns my mind and heart. The desire that is so deep that even I don't fully understand it…"

"So it shall be done…" Midoriko called out as she fell back into the darkness. She vanished as a light revealed itself in her place.

Inu Yasha tried to cover his eyes from the light as he became engulfed by it. 'What's happening? Is this what I truly desired?' he asked himself as his mind blanked, all coherent thought erasing itself. He too fell back, the light hitting him, blinding him, searing his heart. "Kagome…" he whispered.

A voice tugged at him one final time before he lost consciousness.

"I'm finally at peace, forever shall I dream… Thank you Inu Yasha…"

'Is this how it end?'

"Inu Yasha?"

'Wha- That voice…'

"Inu Yasha… Wake up…"

Golden eyes opened droopily to an open sky and a pair of playful grey-blue eyes. "You sleep too much nowadays, Inu Yasha."

"Kagome…" Inu Yasha said in a slightly dazed voice as she shifted in her old green school uniform so he could sit up off of the ground. She sat on the back of her legs as smiled brightly at him.

"Yeah? What's wrong?" Kagome asked.

Inu Yasha's wrapped his arms protectively around her as he buried his head into her neck. "I…I missed you, I missed you so much. Please don't leave me again like that…" he said softly as Kagome's cheeks flushed.

"Um… Inu Yasha, I wasn't gone that long… Only four hours."

"It seemed more like a little piece of eternity…" he replied while lovingly nuzzling her neck.

Kagome allowed him to pull her into his lap and hold her tightly against him. They stayed like this for a very long time, neither wanting to ruin the sweetness of the moment.

"What did you dream about, Inu Yasha?" Kagome asked suddenly as the sun began to set.

"A wish…" he replied.

"A wish?" Kagome asked.

"Yes, for anything in the world…"

"Really, what did you wish for?"

"That's easy," he said as he pulled her to face him. "You." He gently pressed his lips against hers, a motion he had been longing for so long.

He had yearned for her as he had watched her fade slowly away, away and out of his reach, and it had hurt him deeply on the inside. But he wouldn't allow her to fade away into the dark abyss this time, never again.

"So open, so free, so wonderful…" Kagome muttered as their lips parted.

Inu Yasha's eyes widened at her choice of words. "I love it here…"

"Then stay here with me forever," Inu Yasha stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"But forever is such a long time away, Inu Yasha," Kagome whispered.

"Only if I don't have you…"

Kagome paused and concentrated solely on their two heartbeats. They were so close together it was hard to tell them apart. Kagome sighed, "I thought you would have known by now that I want to stay here with you. The question is… will you let me?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Kagome…"

"You mean it?" she asked as her eyes lit up. He nodded.

"That's great then!" Kagome said jumping to her feet with a huge smile adorning her face. "We should celebrate with 99 bottles of WHISKEY! And two bottles of vanilla extract just in case…" Then she took off.

"NO! There is no way I'm ever letting you near that much alcohol again!" Inu Yasha yelled after Kagome who was racing to the village to tell the others of her decision to stay there.

"You must be mistaken, Inu Yasha. I have never been near that much booze in my life, and it's a good time to start!" Kagome called back to him, relaxing that he was surprisingly closer than she had calculated. Within a few seconds after the words left her lips he scooped her up into his arms.

"Promise me Kagome, no alcohol."

Kagome blew a raspberry at him but nodded. "I promise…"

That's when they came, the words that had seen a forgotten half century, words that couldn't be made in the lapping of the times but seemed to be perfect for this one moment, these three words that bonded them together, forever.

"I love you, Kagome…" he whispered to her, his face near touching hers.

"I love you, too, Inu Yasha…" she murmured as their lips touched in a passionate kiss, both holding onto each other, never wanting to leave the other.

The end… Really that's all folks. I'd like to thank Blueangel326 for tweaking this a bit since apparently I didn't have the time or energy to do it on my on. I'd also like to shadowww15 for informing me that I'd forgotten about the lovely drink whiskey which I added in this chapter. I'd also like to thank shadowww15 for informing me about the alcohol content in vanilla extract because after I learned that random fact I chugged half a bottle when I had a head ache and woke up worse (Hangover's a bitch). Oh well I can finally call this completed now. I guess if this isn't a new episode of S-cry-ed I'll work on something else, probably GFB which I've been kinda raving about… Good news it just started new episode! I'm going to go work on some fic after I finish singing Reckless Fire! BYE BYE!


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